Just a Memo

Natsumi Hayashi, Float-ography

Nat­sumi Hayashi is a Tokyo-based pho­tog­ra­pher who started a series of lev­i­tat­ing self-portraits. I, myself, have been tag­ging these (i.e. “jump” shots) in my Flickr col­lec­tion. I’ve been encour­ag­ing friends and fam­ily to do this often as its just an escape from the norm. Though it’s some­what dis­tant from what Nat­sumi Hayashi has done with her series, it’s nice to see her col­lec­tion and work.

Imag­ine the tim­ing, the setup, and time it takes to do a self-portrait; not to men­tion, while “lev­i­tat­ing”. Doing these in Tokyo, where you have a great sense of safety for your belong­ings and self, does help a bit. It has to be one of the most hon­est cities that I have expe­ri­enced in my travels.

Mean­while, when asked why she started this series, she responded with the following:

We are all sur­rounded by social stress as we are bound by the forces of Earth’s grav­ity. So, I hope that peo­ple feel some­thing like an instant release from their stress­ful days by see­ing my lev­i­ta­tion photos.

Here are some more of her photos:

You may view more at her photo-blog enti­tled, “Yoway­owa Diary”. I hope you take a look, and “jump while you can.”